Monday, September 29, 2014

I took a little break from my PL to participate in the Mixed Media Monthly (M3) challenge at The-Lilypad on Friday. I opened up the club kit this month (yes I am behind it came out a week or two ago... ugh!) When I opened up the masks one in particular brought me back to creating artwork as a kid with crayons.... we would color a rainbow of colors on the paper - then cover it all up with black crayon.... then scratch off the black to see all the magical colorful goodness underneath... That's what I hoped to accomplish below - and I guess I did something right I received a GSO (Gallery Stand Out) for it. So Thrilled!!!

There is some journaling hidden under the black and the colors below - just a note to my kids to shine on! The wordart with the stitching is an M3 add on - from Little Butterfly Wings - super cute! the rest is from the M3 September kit minus the staples - they are Just Jaimee October Storyteller kit. I love these - used them 3x already!

Friday, September 26, 2014

OMG! I am so excited Just Jaimee's October Storyteller kit was released today over at The-Lilypad.com. This is her best kit ever! (but I say that every month). i plan to use quite a few tings this month to share with you how versatil her kits are for all your scrappy needs. Lets kick it off with a hybrid project - some home decor. OK - easy peasy right? and yes it was. But what I LOVED! is the way how vibrant the colors printed! - they look fabulous!! Just a warning, this first project is a girl project, but it's not a "girly" kit.

I was so inspired by this cute journal card in this month’s kit, and with so many online services out there, it’s easier than ever to create your own home decor wall art canvases. I wanted to two 8x8 canvases to hang up in my daughter’s room.

Depending on how messy you like to get you can do this in one of two ways... The first way (and by far the simplest: create your design and upload or take your file to a local printer and have them print & mount it for you.

Me personally, I like to take it a step farther and mount them myself. After the design is created in an 8x8 format, in the Image menu, I expanded my canvas to 10x10. then I made my background paper larger to fit the 10x10 space; leaving my 8x8 design in tact. (yep, this gives me the pattern for the sides of my canvas). I sent my prints to Costco to print on an 11x14 lustre paper. Then picked up two 8x8 canvases and some elmer’s spray adhesive.

BUT....here is where things went bad.... Costco took it upon themselves to stretch my picture to fill the 11x14 page. Exactly NOT what I wanted. But I can say I love the color popped! - so I made it work. I cut some foam board 11x11, trimmed my photos to 11x11 and I am all done. can I say how much I love these?

The quote is from Audrey Hepburn (I cut out the kissing part)... My background paper is an old Just Jaimee style applied to the white paper in the kit. And the font is called KG Somebody That I Used to Know - from fontshop.com

Friday, September 19, 2014

I am a sucker for a good daily deal. I have a gmail account that gets populated every morning and I have fun seeing what is on special. I think it is a great concept and I have purchased from many of them... with that said, there are some bad, some good, and there are some great ones!!!

I have been watching Crafty Steals.com. I have never purchased from them b/c I was duped y a similar website a while back. However, I am a crafter, so I lurk...(not to mention I have so many products, I really try to limit myself, not sure my husband would agree to that statement.). This Tuesday I received an email for these cutest Heidi Swapp stamps below (perfect for my project life). I couldn't resist!

I was still leary so I just purchased as a guest, I still haven't created a login yet :(.

By noon I had received an email that they processed my order.

Yesterday (Thursday) I came home to a package in my mail with my stamps.

They are cute and awesome - and I am psyched to start using them!!

bottom line....I will so shop with them again.

(BTW I am still waiting on a daily deal that I purchased the week before from Living Social Deals.com. I have not received any shipping notices at this point (maybe I need to log in to see them, but I like even more that I didnt have to chase down my Crafty Steal deal shipping details).
Just a note, CraftySteals.com is also a partner with a SimplySteals.com. I have not tried them yet - but I have a feeling if something irrestible comes by - I will have my wallet ready :)

Ever just not in the mood to scrap? Or just too overwhelmed that nothing you do looks right? I am there, and feel your pain. I have to come up with a craft idea, I am behind in PL, and I want to stay on top of the M3 challenges, but when I start to scrap...everything goes blank. Nothing is inspiring to me.... So how do I get over this?

Dive right in I guess... luckily I have my notebooks that keep me current with PL - so I hope to post a few pages of my catch up (again) this Sunday. M3 has another challenge - I am half way done with and I will get that posted by tomorrow. I just need to make myself do it and creating deadlines are a huge help, self-induced or from somewhere else, deadlines will keep me honest. I always was a better crammer in school, waiting to the last minute to study...bad habits are hard to break.

And The Lilypad has their BYOC sale this weekend - where you can get amazing deals on all designers items of a specific color scheme - and you pick and choose what you like - knowing they will all match and look great together. Here is what I created using Just Jaimee's Sugar Cookie kit (and the red ric rac and stitches are from Domesticated Life in Pockets Collab). I grabbed the design inspiration from Pagemaps September Template ideas.

Who doesn't like a scrapbook page about their favorite cookie? Especially as I am still watching my carbs, and haven't had one of these cookies for almost a year...oh sweeeet memories :)

Other things on my list of scrappy things to do is finish my St Thomas pages from April, (before we go again id Dec.).